Get your Gummy Greenhouse Gases!

Got gumdrops? Then you can build models of molecules. Molecules are tiny structures that make up just about all matter—including you! Molecules themselves are made of atoms, the basic building blocks of matter.

Using just four kinds of atoms as building blocks, you can construct many different types of molecules. In this project, you will build models of some gas molecules. These kinds of gas molecules are part of the air. They are called greenhouse gases. We will explain why later.

For now, get ready for some gummy fun!

You will need:

Gumdrops, any size, four different colors.

These atoms are usually modeled using red for oxygen, white for hydrogen, gray for carbon, and blue for nitrogen. However, some of these colors are mighty hard to find in gumdrops. So use any colors you like. Here's how many you will need of each (but don't forget to get extras for sneaking into your mouth):

Red: 13
White: 7
Gray (or black): 3
Blue: 2

Round wooden toothpicks

Construction paper, 1 large sheet (12x18, for example)

Felt pen or crayons

Here are the colors we used for our gumdrop building block atoms:

Oxygen

Hydrogen

Carbon

Nitrogen

You will make . . .

. . . Gummy Greenhouse Gas models of these gases. Each molecule has a shorthand name, which also gives its recipe, or formula. For example, ozone is also called O3, where O stands for an oxygen atom and the little 3 means there are three of them. Here are all the greenhouse gas molecules, their formulas, and a picture of its gumdrop model.

Name of
greenhouse gas

Recipe

Shortcut
(formula)

Gumdrop model

Ozone

3 oxygen atoms

O3

Nitrous oxide

2 nitrogen atoms and
1 oxygen atom

N2O

Carbon dioxide

1 carbon and
2 oxygen atoms

CO2

Water vapor

2 hydrogen atoms and
1 oxygen atom

H2O

Methane

1 carbon atom and
4 hydrogen atoms

CH4

Here's how:

Break several toothpicks in half. You will need only one-half a toothpick to make each "bond." The bonds are how the atoms are stuck together to make molecules.

Build each of the greenhouse gas molecules, as shown above.

Now, take the big piece of construction paper and your crayons or felt pen and label it something like this:

A mission to understand

So, now that you know all your greenhouse gases, you might be wondering . . . why should you care?

We must understand Earth in order to take good care of it. Learning about Earth is part of NASA's mission.

NASA launched the Aura satellite in 2004 as part of its Earth Observing System. Aura carries four science instruments. They all study the atmosphere from about 20 miles high down to Earth's surface. One instrument is called TES, which is short for Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer.

The troposphere is the lowest part of the atmosphere. It's down here where we live—and pollute, unfortunately. A spectrometer uses light to identify the chemical composition of matter. The TES mission is particularly interested in ozone and how it is distributed up and down throughout the atmosphere.

As TES passes over Earth's surface, it gathers data that can be made into a profile of the atmosphere, like this one. The profile shows with different colors how much ozone (or other greenhouse gas) is in the atmosphere at different altitudes. In this image, the areas of highest ozone levels are shown in red. Notice that where the red is closest to Earth's surface is near large cities in the U.S.

By Subject

By Type

A mission to understand

So, now that you know all your greenhouse gases, you might be wondering . . . why should you care?

We must understand Earth in order to take good care of it. Learning about Earth is part of NASA's mission.

NASA launched the Aura satellite in 2004 as part of its Earth Observing System. Aura carries four science instruments. They all study the atmosphere from about 20 miles high down to Earth's surface. One instrument is called TES, which is short for Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer.

The troposphere is the lowest part of the atmosphere. It's down here where we live—and pollute, unfortunately. A spectrometer uses light to identify the chemical composition of matter. The TES mission is particularly interested in ozone and how it is distributed up and down throughout the atmosphere.

As TES passes over Earth's surface, it gathers data that can be made into a profile of the atmosphere, like this one. The profile shows with different colors how much ozone (or other greenhouse gas) is in the atmosphere at different altitudes. In this image, the areas of highest ozone levels are shown in red. Notice that where the red is closest to Earth's surface is near large cities in the U.S.